Stephen John Oram (born 1973)[1] is an English actor, comedian, writer, and filmmaker. He is known for his role in the multi-award winning 2012 film Sightseers, which he also co-wrote. His other credits include People Like Us (2001), It's All Gone Pete Tong (2004), Tittybangbang (2006–2007), Suburban Shootout (2006), The Mighty Boosh (2007), Connections (2008), The World's End (2013), Wipers Times (2013), The Secrets (2014), The Canal (2014), Altar (2014), Paddington (2014), Glue (2014), Aaaaaaaah! (2015), The Living and the Dead (2016), A Dark Song (2016), The End of the F***ing World (2017–2019), Ghosts (2019), Doctor Who (2021), Killing Eve (2022), and D.I Ray (2022–2023).
Oram was born in 1973,[1] in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England.[2][3] He studied at the University of East Anglia, taking degrees in both English and film.[1][3]
He started as a character comedian on the comedy circuit and performed several comedy shows at the Edinburgh Fringe with comedy partner Tom Meeten during the early 2000s.[4] He also appeared at Ealing Live, a comedy night at Ealing Studios, where he met and started working with Alice Lowe.[5]
In 2002, Oram and Meeten wrote, composed the music and starred in Channel 4's Matthew & Tone: Tales of Friendship and Innocence.[3] It was directed by Dominic Brigstocke and screened in season 5 of the Comedy Lab series.[3]
Oram appeared in various TV & film roles throughout the 2000s including the second series of People Like Us (2001), the feature film It's All Gone Pete Tong (2004) starring Paul Kaye, Tittybangbang (2006–07) and Suburban Shootout (2006).[6] He also played Donnie the tramp in the series written by and starring Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, series 3 of The Mighty Boosh (2007).[6]
In 2008, his short film Connections screened at Cannes Film Festival as part of the official Straight 8 selection.[7]
He also appeared alongside Alice Lowe as a support act in Steve Coogan's 2008–09 stand up tour "Steve Coogan is.....Alan Partridge and other less successful characters".[6]
Oram has written and directed numerous short films under the pseudonym "Steve Aura" and released under the banner of Lincoln Studios.[8]
With Meeten, he performs a long-running comedy show in London called Oram & Meeten's Club Fantastico.[9]
In 2012, Oram and Lowe starred in Ben Wheatley's dark comedy Sightseers.[6] The film was written by Oram and Lowe with additional material by Amy Jump.[10][11]
Since then, Oram has taken on roles in films including Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's The World's End (2013),[6] The Canal (2014),[6] Altar (2014) and Paddington (2014).[6]
On television, he has appeared in Wipers Times (2013) written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, an episode of The Secrets (2014) alongside Alison Steadman and Olivia Colman,[12] an episode of Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy (2014), the Jack Thorne series Glue (2014) and The Living and the Dead (2016).[6]
Oram released his directorial debut Aaaaaaaah! in 2015,[3] a film in which the characters communicate entirely in ape-like grunts.[3] It starred Oram himself alongside Julian Barratt, Toyah Willcox, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Noel Fielding and Holli Dempsey.[3] The film's soundtrack features a number of tracks from the King Crimson ProjeKcts albums.[13]
In 2016, he starred as Joseph Solomonin in A Dark Song.[14]
In 2019, he appeared as Terry in the BBC series Ghosts.[6]